The Right to Change Co-Producing Ethnographic Animation with Indigenous Youth in Amazonia

Abstract

This article explores the use of ethnographic animation as a method to engage Indigenous youth actively in the production and representation of knowledge, producing research that not only examines social change, but also establishes pathways for change driven by participants themselves. Drawing on a recent collaboration with a professional animator, an Indigenous artist, and young Matses migrants in Amazonian Peru, I discuss how ethnographic animation can open up a space for Indigenous youth who feel radically unheard and unseen by wider society to discuss key challenges they face, while producing tangible outputs (animated films) to gain a sense of wider recognition through forms of self-representation.